Accueil Barry ANDREWS

. – Strengthening and deepening Europe's capital markets union (CMU) will be an essential element of the recovery of the EU's economy. The first version of the Commission's CMU Action Plan, in 2015, lost momentum and was faced with obstacles. This Parliament, and our co-legislator, must commit to approach the CMU Plan 2.0 with the ambition and effort it merits. At a time when interest rates are at a historical low, the CMU has the potential to provide our savers and pensioners with the ability to turn to the market to invest for a better return. When SMEs are refused traditional banking loans, they should be able to turn to a multitude of alternative sources of funding through the capital markets. I strongly support and am a strong advocate for many of the key aspects of this report and its overall message. However, unfortunately I had to abstain as yet again this house included in the report an unnecessary call for the introduction of a CCCTB

. – The original text of the Implementation of the common commercial policy – annual report 2018 was balanced and fair. A stocktaking exercise, it looked back and outlined the events of 2018 in this policy area. However, once amended, I was no longer able to support this report. First, the amendments defeated the overall objective of the report, which was to look backwards rather than forwards. In doing so, these amendments reduced the ability of the Parliament to assess past developments and therefore pursue sound policies moving forwards. Secondly, I strongly believe that trade is a powerful tool the EU can use to promote its values far beyond its external borders, including our ambitious agenda on environmental protection, climate change and labour rights. For example, in his hearing in the Committee on International Trade of the European Parliament, Commissioner-designate Dombrovskis underlined that the Commission will be seeking pre-ratification commitments from our MERCOSUR partners that translate into tangible action on the ground before the EU-MERCOSUR Agreement can proceed in its ratification process. The amendments instead, proposed reducing the EU’s leverage vis-a-vis our trading partners. As a result, I was forced to abstain.